October seems to be the month for Readathons! As the Magical Readthon finishes on the 13th of October I thought I could dive straight into another one. I really wanted to do a Halloween one because I have so many spooky books I want to read. I found the Strangeathon on Twitter, a readathon hosted by Rachel Verna.

This readathon runs from 13-31st Oct, and has 14 prompts. I thought this would be a great chance to get quite a few books off my TBR and I’m also on holiday for 10 days which means I’ll hopefully get through quite a few challenges. I doubt I’ll manage all 14 but it was really fun to pick books for the prompts. I tried to be tactical about my choices and pick shorter books/ones I’m really dying to read – so let’s dive in!

1. Deathly Time: Read a book where death plays a big part.
Originally for this I had planned to go with Scythe by Neal Schusterman, but I recently got sent a copy of The Boneless Mercies by April Genevieve Tucholke and I am desperate to read it. The main characters are death traders so I thought that suited this challenge pretty well!

2. Thriller Killer: Read a thrilling book.
I recently went to an event at Bloody Scotland with Thriller/Horror writers and one of them was C. J. Tudor. She talked about her book The Chalk Man and it sounded so dark and thrilling I had to pick it up. It sounds amazing and I think it’s going to be a perfect fast paced read for the readathon.

3. Halloween Icon: Read a book with something iconic to Halloween on the cover.
For this I’m reading Strange Ink by Gary Kemble. It has a nice creepy skull with a rose on the cover and it sounds so good. I’m also on the blog tour for this one so stay tuned for that!

4. The Stella Special: Read a book with a part of a skeleton on the cover.
I could have doubled up and read Strange Ink for both challenges but for this I went with The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco. I bought a copy of this at YALC and I have been dying to read it ever since. I also have The Heart Forger so if I love it I might switch something out to read the sequel.5. Summer Slasher: Read a book set at summer.
For this I went with My Best Friend’s Exorcism by Grady Hendrix. It sounds like the perfect summer slasher type book and I’m so excited to read this one!

6. Horror Monster: Read a book with a creature that is often the villain.
For this I’m reading The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein by Kirsten White. I still haven’t read And I Darken yet but I also have this in my back up spooky reads pile so perhaps I’ll get to them both this month. This book obviously features Frankenstein’s monster which I thought was a perfect choice for a horror villain.

7. Gives Chills: Read a book about something that freaks you out.
Now I’ve cheated slightly with this one. The subject matter for this book doesn’t necessarily freak me out but Laura Purcell’s writing does. Her first book The Silent Companions is terrifying. I read it a year ago and honestly I still think about it. If The Corset is anything like that, I’m definitely going to be freaked out.

8. Tales From the Grave: Read a short story collection.
I don’t have an awful lot of short story collections so for this I’m going with The Murders in the Rue Morgue by Edgar Allan Poe. It’s quite short and only features a few short murder mysteries so I should get through this one pretty quickly!

9. Setting Fun: Read a book with a spooky location.
For this I’m reading Small Spaces by Katherine Arden. This will probably be the first one I read because I’m excited to see the difference between this and her adult fantasy writing. This middle grade is set on a creepy old farm so I think that works really well.

10. Blood Red: Read a book with a red or orange cover.
For this I thought I would go with Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager which honestly I can’t believe I haven’t read yet. It has a suitably dark and orangey cover so I’m hoping this one lives up to the hype.

11. Darkness Within: Read a book in the dark or in darker conditions than usual.
For this challenge I figured I could pick anything so I’ve gone with Sawkill Girls. I’ve got my candles at the ready to read this spooky and atmospheric book.

12. Striking Words: Read a book based solely on the title.
I honestly bought The Price Guide to the Occult because it had such an interesting title so I think it’s going to work pretty well. It’s also quite short so hopefully it helps me fulfil this challenge!

13. Lucky Number: Read a book with 13 chapters or 13 in the title.
So this one I am also cheating. I looked through all the books on my TBR and none of them have thirteen chapters and the only book I could find with 13 in the title was The Thirteenth Tale and it isn’t particularly a spooky book. So I decided for this to read The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware – it was 10 on the cover and that’s pretty close right?

14. The F-Up: Read a book that doesn’t fit any of the challenges.
For this I tried to go with something as far from spooky as possible so I’ve gone with The Accidental Bad Girl. I didn’t manage to get to this during Contemporary-AThon so I thought this would be the perfect time and a way to lighten up the scary reads!

So that’s my slightly insane TBR for Strangeathon. Honestly if I manage to read half of them I will be impressed with myself but I’m excited to try. Are you participating in any Halloween readathons? If you are what are you reading? Also if anyone has read any of these and can tell me which ones to pick up first or if I should avoid any let me know!